It's A Wonderful Scoob
by Scoobyfan1
Summary: Part of my 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo fan fic series, but rewritten, and with Fred and Velma and without Scrappy Doo. The unthinkable has happened: Scooby Doo has retired from ghost chasing. Can Vincent Van Ghoul show him the error of his ways and get him to return to the gang before it's too late? Currently being re-edited.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters are copyright 2010 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. No challenge to their ownership is implied; I am not making any money from writing this story, I am just a fan and I am writing this simply for fun. Also, any names of real television networks or cable TV networks are copyright 2010 to their respective owners and operators; in addition no challenge to any ownership is implied.

Author's Notes #2: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo was originally aired in 1985 and at the time the president of the United States was Ronald Reagan; Ronald Reagan's appearance in this story is courtesy of the author's imagination (actually there was a caricature of President Reagan in the original TV episode and I figured for this story I would include the actual person, hopefully everyone likes it.

Chapter 1

The ever cowardly, ever hungry and world famous Great Dane Scooby Doo along with his friends, have been solving mysteries and chasing ghosts for decades, four decades as a matter of fact; but unknown to the Great Dane and the rest of Mystery Inc., at least for the moment, they are about to encounter a ghost that could force the canine detective into doing the unthinkable: namely permanently retiring from ghost chasing.

We find the crimson and black painted Mystery Machine driving along a mountain road somewhere in the continent of Europe; peering outside at the passing scenery the gang can see numerous picturesque mountain peaks topped with white powdery snow, but not much of anything else; actually the snow capped mountains are for the most part the only beautiful thing in the part of the world Mystery Inc. is passing through, because the rest of the area is a fairly barren and desolate landscape.

While admiring said scenery the gang notices that the Crystal Ball on the dashboard of their van is ringing; Daphne moves over to it, presses a button and then waits for an answer.

The Crystal Ball displays an image of the gang's mystic friend Vincent Van Ghoul who looks like he is ready to present the group with some important information as they can see his likeness is displayed in the van via the crystal ball's 3-D holographic projection system, albeit somewhat smaller then his usual appearance.

"What's up Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Fred.

"Much I'm afraid, you see Fred, Time Slime, one of the thirteen ghosts is on the loose" Vincent replied.

"Anything important we should know about this Time Slime?" Velma asked.

"Yes Velma, you see he has been using his Time Scepter to speed up time to the day that he can conquer the world" Vincent explained.

"Jeepers, that's horrible!" Daphne exclaimed in terror.

"Like can he speed up time so that lunch is right after breakfast and dinner is right after lunch?' Shaggy chimed in, in a half serious half joking manner.

"Hold your tongue Shaggy" Vincent replied with a displeased look on his face.

"Like okay, I'm holding it" Shaggy replied as he did what Mr. Van Ghoul suggested for him to do, albeit in a half joking way.

"I'm afraid that if nothing is done about Time Slime, he will succeed in his plans which would mean the end of the world as we know it" addressed Vincent.

"Then we'll have to keep our eyes open for him, and make sure we can catch him before he catches us" Fred explained.

"Yes, I would advise that, now I must go but remember: be careful" Vincent warned.

"We will Mr. Van Ghoul, we will" addressed Fred.

With that Vincent Van Ghoul's picture disappeared from the crystal ball and the gang were left alone once more, on their way to attempt to stop Time Slime from succeeding in his plans to rule the world; meanwhile in his official headquarters, the lair of time, Time Slime plotted and planned out his scheme to bring the famous ghost chaser and his friends to him.

While the latest of the thirteen spirits from the Demon Chest was plotting, Bogel and Weerd, the two somewhat dimwitted ghosts who tricked Shaggy and Scooby into opening the sinister box were standing or floating in a corner of the Time Slime's lair and were watching their new boss working on a device which he was going to use in his evil plan.

"Isn't Time Slime the most evil ghost you've ever seen Bogel?" Weerd asked.

"Ooh, ooh he's really something isn't he Weerd? Bogel replied.

"Yeah, not to mention using that Time Scepter of his to speed up time so he can rule the world, now that's genius" Weerd added while the two ghosts laughed menacingly, as they laughed the wicked Time Slime turned to his fellow villains and prepared to have them join him.

"Bogel, Weerd, get over here you idiots" the nefarious phantom growled.

"R-right away boss" Weerd nervously stated.

"Ooh, ooh we're coming your dreadfulness" Bogel added, sounding like he was groveling at the feet of the frightening apparition.

"Will you two stop that silliness and come here!" Time Slime bellowed.

Knowing that they didn't want to upset their new boss, the two ghosts then joined Time Slime at what looked to be a large wooden table, Bogel and Weerd then noticed a television monitor, which displayed an image of the great city of London and its famous clock and tourist attraction Big Ben.

"Now, I do believe it's time to create a little havoc and it's also the perfect time to test my new Time Scepter" Time Slime explained.

The villainous phantom set the small dial of the strange apparatus to a setting labeled Future and waited for the fireworks to begin, the three ghostly villains then watched the television monitor and saw the city go from darkness to light and from night to day several times in the manner of mere seconds.

"Ah excellent, my device works perfectly" Time Slime declared with an evil smile on his face.

"So what are you going to do with the Time Scepter now boss?" Weerd asked.

"Well, I'm glad you asked you two dolts, now that I now my Time Scepter is in proper working order I can use it to bring Scooby Doo and those meddling friends of his here to my lair" Time Slime explained, laughing evilly.

As the three spirits watched the television monitor they noticed that the cowardly Great Dane and his friends were driving along a snowy mountain road; as they drove along the villainous Time Slime set the controls of the Time Scepter to future once more and prepared to watch the fun begin.

"Creepers, somebody put the van into fast forward!" Fred shouted.

"What do you mean Freddie?" Daphne asked, attempting to figure out what her companion was talking about.

"I mean the steering wheel and the brakes don't work!" the blond teen replied, with a great amount of terror in his voice.

"That's nothing; just take a look at the van's clock!" Velma added, gasping as she spoke.

On Velma's urging the rest of the gang looked and saw that the small clock near the passenger's side vanity mirror was going crazy, the numbers were switching so rapidly that the teen sleuths didn't know quite what to make of it.

As the now brake less Mystery Machine drove on out of control, Time Slime's use of the Time Scepter caused a large patch of snow to begin rapidly melting and as a result, caused it to pour onto the roadway.

The crimson colored van was heading for the large patch of now melting snow, while inside of the vehicle each member of the group wondered how they were going to get out of this situation; suddenly Scooby Doo came up with an idea, he reached over the front seats to the dashboard and quickly flipped the van's rubber ducky raft switch to the on position; the van began falling several hundred feet but thankfully the raft finished inflating and gave the vehicle some much needed cushion as it landed on the snow covered ground below.

"Phew, good going Scooby you saved us" Fred remarked.

"Yeah, you sure are man's best friend, not to mention girl's best friend too" Daphne added.

"Raw rucks, rit ras rothing" Scooby remarked, sounding very modest about his saving the gang from a terrible fate.

While the gang breathed a huge sigh of relief, the Crystal Ball that Flim Flam was holding began ringing loudly; the young black haired boy then looked into the crystal and saw a picture of the gang's warlock friend Vincent Van Ghoul.

"What's up Mr. Van Ghoul?" addressed Flim Flam.

"Time Slime's hideout, the lair of time is in your general area," Vincent explained.

"I figured as much, I think we've already gotten a taste of what he can do" Velma replied.

"You have?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah and if it hadn't been for Scooby's quick thinking, we might have joined the ranks of the thirteen ghosts" Fred explained.

"Then you must be extra careful, because now that Time Slime has tried to destroy you and failed, I'm afraid he won't rest until he has the Chest of Demons" Vincent replied.

"We will Mr. Van Ghoul, believe me we will" Fred remarked.

"Then I wish you all good luck and hopefully this fiend will be captured" Vincent said.

With those words and the great warlock's warning, Vincent Van Ghoul's picture disappeared once again from the crystal, leaving Scooby and the gang to their thoughts as they attempted to try and track down Time Slime.

"Well here we are gang, wherever in the world here is" Fred remarked as he and the rest of the group looked around the strange village that they had landed in, hoping to figure out some clue as to where they were and where Time Slime's lair might be located.

The six members of Mystery Inc. then looked up from where they were and noticed a large sign at the entrance to the village; curiosity getting the better of the young college age sleuths, they figured that what the sign said might be important, so the bespectacled members of the group started to decipher what it said.

"Cuckoosburg, we'll clean your clock in no time" Velma said, reading the sign.

"Hmm… sounds like a weird name for a town to me" Shaggy replied.

"Jeepers not only that but something's weird with the sun, look!" Daphne declared pointing skyward.

The rest of Mystery Inc. looked where their redheaded colleague was motioning and saw something that for all intensive purposes had no logical explanation; in the span of a couple minutes the sky changed from daytime to nighttime at least a dozen times, even Velma the most intelligent member of the group was quite puzzled by this unique and very strange event.

"Jinkies, that's impossible; there's no scientific or rational way that time can precede that fast unless…" Velma stated.

"Unless what Velma?" Shaggy wondered.

"Unless that ghost Time Slime that Vincent was telling us about had something to do with this," the bespectacled sleuth replied.

As Velma spoke, the face of the grandfather clock that the gang was standing in front of changed from a regular clock face into the face of the villainous apparition; at that moment Scooby Doo and company happened to look up at the clock and see the face of their frightening foe as he activated a small lever at the side of the clock.

"See what did I tell youuuu!" Velma yelled as a trap door opened up in front of the strange clock and Scooby and company fell right through it.

Suddenly Mystery Inc. found themselves falling down what seemed to be a large slide, after winding their way through numerous twists and turns, the group of sleuths landed in what looked to be a strange dungeon; however the room that Scooby and company found themselves in wasn't quite a dungeon, it was in point of fact much worse.

"Welcome to my lair of time Scooby Doo and friends" an unseen voice said.

As Scooby Doo and his friends looked to see where the voice was coming from, three familiar figures stepped closer to the group; as the Great Dane and his mystery solving associates saw the faces of the trio of villains up close they knew that they were in for a world of trouble.

"Jeepers, its Bogel and Weerd!" Daphne declared in horror.

"Not to mention Time Slime," Fred added.

The ghastly villain then smiled crookedly as he caught sight of the members of Mystery Inc., in addition to overhearing the blond teen's statement.

"If my ears aren't deceiving me it sounds like you mortals and your dog have heard of me," Time Slime explained.

"Yes Time Slime, we've heard of you and we're going to stop you!" Fred declared with a business like tone in his voice.

"Stop me? And just how in the world do you expect to do that? You meddlers won't even have your Chest of Demons for much longer much less be able to defeat me" Time Slime explained as he taunted the group of ghost chasers.

"The Chest of Demons? So that's how you plan on taking over the world, by setting the demons free and having them wreak havoc all over the planet" Velma replied.

"Very good my dear and now you six will give me the Chest or I will destroy you!" Time Slime declared.

"Not a chance you phantom, you'll never destroy us!" Fred declared.

"Very well I figured you would say that, so I shall give you an ultimatum" Time Slime replied.

'What kind of ultimatum?" the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. asked.

"My ultimatum is simply this: you meddlers are going to hand over that chest immediately, or I shall lock you up in that wonderful little device over there" Time Slime said pointing at a strange device which was composed of a large clock and a suit of armor.

"What is that thing?" Velma wondered.

"I call it my Killer Clock, and if you do not give it to me the six of you are going to experience its effects first hand!" Time Slime pronounced.

"Fred's right Time Slime, there's no way you'll defeat us" Daphne remarked.

"Very well, since you will not cooperate I'm afraid I have no alternative; Bogel, Weerd, seize them!" the villainous phantom declared.

With that the ghastly villain who looked to be something like a reject from a watch commercial and his two ghostly compatriots stepped closer and closer to Scooby and company as they also attempted to grab the Chest.

Mystery Inc. tried to figure out someway to escape their horrible fate in Time Slime's Killer Clock but they could not find an exit anywhere in the villain's lair; it was now clear that Scooby Doo and the gang realized that they were done for.

Time Slime along with Bogel and Weerd after advancing on the six sleuths, locked them up in the sinister contraption as they waited nervously for the Killer Clock to do them in also knowing that they would never solve another mystery again and that unless something was done and fast, they would soon join the ranks of the thirteen ghosts.

While Mystery Inc. waited for their unavoidable doom, Bogel and Weerd sung a ghostly version of the famous nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock, while Scooby and company cringed at the evil lyrics the two specters came up with.

The suit of armor that was connected to the sinister contraption raised it's sword as the group of teenage sleuths and their Great Dane prepared to face the end; meanwhile back in his castle the gang's warlock friend and ally Vincent Van Ghoul was looking into his Crystal Ball and was not happy with what he saw.

"Great heavens! It looks like that strange contraption is about to destroy Scooby Doo and company, I've got to do something before it's too late; wait that's it! I'll use the crystal's transporter to bring the gang here," Vincent thought.

So with that Vincent placed his hands on the crystal ball and hoped that his plan would work and that the great teenage sleuths and their canine companion would arrive unharmed.

The Crystal began to glow a strange shade of yellow as the transporter activated, suddenly the gang disappeared from Time Slime's lair; the glow blinded the villainous ghost for a few seconds and his compatriots as the fearsome phantom growled in anger.

"Blast that Vincent Van Ghoul! I was so close to destroying that meddling dog and his friends!" Time Slime yelled.

For a few moments it seemed that the powerful warlock's plan worked as the gang appeared in Vincent's castle; in fact the group's warlock ally did work except for one thing: there were only five members of Mystery Inc. in the castle, one member of the group was still MIA.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, boy are we glad to see you!" Velma declared.

"Yeah we thought we would never get out of that Killer Clock" Fred added.

"Like don't celebrate yet gang, did anybody notice who's missing?" Shaggy replied.

"Scooby!" the gang said in unison.

"Jinkies you're right Shaggy, Scooby must still be back with Time Slime!" Velma remarked with terror in her voice.

Vincent then looked into his Crystal Ball and saw that the Great Dane was indeed still in the Lair of Time and in a temporary moment of bravery had managed to grab Time Slime's time scepter; the great warlock knew that he needed to transport the canine sleuth from the clutches of Time Slime to the safe surroundings of his castle.

"Vincent you have to bring Scooby back" Daphne remarked.

"I'll certainly try" Vincent replied.

Vincent then placed his hands atop the crystal ball and witnessed Scooby trying to keep Time Slime from getting the Time Scepter, which the Great Dane was now clutching in his paws.

"Crystal Ball, transport Scooby Doo here...now!" Vincent declared.

Unfortunately for the great warlock something went wrong with the Crystal's transportation mechanism and Scooby did not appear with the gang.

"Jinkies, where's Scooby?" Velma asked.

Vincent peered into his crystal ball once again and saw that the Time Scepter was interfering with the Crystal Ball.

"Something's gone wrong, the Time Scepter's controls are interfering with the magic of the Crystal Ball and it's sending him into the past" Vincent responded.

"Who's past?" Fred asked.

"Scooby's past" Vincent replied.

With that Scooby Doo found himself hurtling towards the past, through the mists of time and years and decades past until the cowardly Great Dane found himself inside a hospital; unseen and unheard by everyone in the building, Scooby observed a male Great Dane much like himself, except for the fact that he had a bit more fur, was wearing glasses and looked to be wise beyond his years pacing about the waiting room.

A few moments later a white door opened nearby and a woman in a lab coat and doctor's clothing walked into to speak with the Great Dane.

"Congratulations Mr. Doo, it's a boy!" the woman remarked with a bright smile on his face.

"Ra roy? Ripeee! Rere rave ra rog riscuit" the male dog excitedly says as he puts a small dog bone shaped treat into the woman's mouth.

Later in one of the hospital rooms, a female Great Dane sits up in one of the beds; the male Great Dane has joined her as the two of them gaze happily at a baby Great Dane wrapped in a blanket.

"Oh, dada isn't he the most precious thing you've ever seen" the female Great Dane remarks.

"Reah, re rure ris ronderful" the male Great Dane replied.

"I wonder what we'll name him?" the female Great Dane wondered.

At that moment the small Great Dane took a red pacifier from his mouth and spoke to his new parents, to the surprise of both of them.

"Scooby-Dooby-Doo!" the Great Dane puppy exclaimed.

"Hey, that's perfect; that's what we'll name him Dada, Scooby-Doo" the female Dane remarks.

After observing the two Great Danes in their celebration of their new puppy, Scooby Doo now finds himself heading back towards the present day as he next sees images of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Flim Flam flying past him.

Following the friendly images of his fellow Mystery Inc. sleuths, he saw a frightening and horrible image: himself standing in front of an evil, sinister looking container: the Chest of Demons.

"Rey, rit's re!" Scooby remarked as he sees the image of himself.

"Roh ro, ron't ropen rhe rox!" Scooby shouted, trying to stop himself from opening the Chest.

Of course being that Scooby Doo could make contact with the images or interfere in anything that has already happened, the Great Dane watched himself once again open the evil-looking box; with the container now open once more, pictures of several of the ghosts from the Chest of Demons now whiz past Scooby: Zomba, Marcella and the most recent Time Slime.

After experiencing one of the most horrible moments of his life, Scooby now finds himself placing his hands in front of his eyes and begins yelping and whimpering; it is now clear as crystal, or clear as Vincent Van Ghoul's crystal ball for that matter that these images have frightened Scooby more than anything has ever frightened him before in his life.

"Rop it, rop it, ro rore, ro rore!" Scooby yelled.

Back in Vincent's castle, the powerful Warlock is finally able to fix the Crystal Ball's transporter mechanism and managed to successfully transport Scooby back to the present; although as he returned, it is quite clear that something is wrong with the Great Dane and that he has had enough of ghost chasing to last him a thousand lifetimes, which he decides to share with his friends.

"Scooby, oh thank goodness you're back!" Velma exclaimed happily.

"Like yeah Scoob, we thought you would never come back" Shaggy replied.

Scooby looks towards the gang with an almost somber and frightened looking face; Shaggy noticed this and asks his friend what's the matter.

"What's up Scooby?" Shaggy asked.

"Ro rore, ri've rad it!" Scooby replies.

"No more what Scooby?" Velma asks.

"Rhosts, ro rore rhosts and ronsters, ro rore rysteries!" Scooby yelps.

"No more mysteries, Scooby what are you saying?" Fred asks.

"Ri ruit!" Scooby responds.

"You quit?" Shaggy replied with a puzzled look on his face.

"You can't quit Scooby! We need you, we can't solve mysteries without you" Fred added while trying to reason with the Great Dane.

Fred's conversation with the mystery solving, ghost-chasing canine is to no avail however, as Scooby packs some things together and walks out the door, hoping to never return to the gang, to the sadness and despair of the rest of his friends.

Back in Time Slime's lair, the evil specter peered into what looked to be a special television monitor and grinned at what he was seeing; Weerd and Bogel decided to join their boss in gloating at the recent events.

"So it appears that Scooby Doo has called it quits" Time Slime said with an evil smirk.

"Yeah, that Great Dane isn't great any more" Weerd remarked with a laugh.

"This is just the break I've been looking for; come Bogel and Weerd, I believe it's time to visit Scooby Doo's meddling friends" Time Slime commented.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away inside his bedroom, towards the back of his parents house, the cowardly and famous Great Dane Scooby Doo laid back on his bed, sounding and looking quite relaxed; the canine investigator then glanced up at the ceiling of his bedroom, before looking around at the various posters and a small television set atop a chest of drawers.

As the once cowardly canine surveyed his surroundings, he found himself sighing in a relaxed manner; ever since Scooby Doo started his career solving mysteries he had always wanted a nice restful mystery free or ghost free vacation, like his friends, and now he was getting one, albeit it was to be a permanent one, at least that's what the canine was hoping as his head rested on a nearby pillow.

"Ah this is the life," the Great Dane thought to himself.

The canine detective had a broad smile on his face, realizing that he would never have to chase another ghost or solve another mystery ever again; after years of traveling the world and sampling the finest cuisines the world could offer, he finally figured out that retirement was indeed exactly what he needed.

Unfortunately being retired also meant a lot of boredom: at first Scooby didn't know what to do with himself, but after much thought he decided to do some reading; after getting out of his bed, he then walked over to a small bookcase which contained several shelves of materials that Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy had given to him for Christmas and his birthday over the years.

There were mysteries given to him by the entire gang, cookbooks given to him by Shaggy, sports books given to him by Fred, science and reference books given to him by Velma, as well as books on fashion, clothing and television given to him by Daphne; the volumes on television he found interesting because he and his friends were mentioned in some of them while the clothing and fashion books he had no interest in.

After browsing the shelves, he then took out a mystery novel, walked over to his bed and laid back down; a few moments later he began reading the book but didn't find it very interesting or entertaining, after all the adventures chasing ghosts and monsters not to mention all the mysteries he had helped solve with the rest of Mystery Inc. any fictional story Scooby read just wasn't the same as going through a real mystery.

The Great Dane then placed the book on the nightstand next to his bed as he felt himself begin to get sleepy; naturally he relented to this feeling and decided to take a short nap.

As he slept he started to dream about some of the past adventures he had been through; he smiled as he thought of his friends and especially Shaggy, Scooby knew that he had been through a lot with the green shirted and now red shirted teenager, after all he had raised Scooby from a puppy, the two of them had always been inseparable and now the Great Dane felt some remorse about leaving him and the rest of the gang behind.

Scooby continued his sleep, however this time he thought of some of the villains that he had faced along with the rest of Mystery Inc. over the years like the Black Knight, the Creeper and some of the more recent villains from the Chest of Demons including Maldor, Zomba and Time Slime who was the most recent.

The pictures of these frightening figures in his mind caused the Great Dane to yelp and awake with a start from his slumber.

Hearing their son's scream, Scooby's parents quickly ran down the hallway and knocked on his door.

"Scooby, are you alright?" Momsy Doo asked.

"Ri rhink ro" he answered.

"Can we come in?" his mother asked.

"Ri ruess ro" Scooby replied.

Momsy and Daddy Doo then opened the door to their son's bedroom and saw him sitting up on the bed looking like he had just seen a ghost; once they entered the room, the two elder Great Danes saw their son nervously sitting on the bed and attempted to comfort him.

"What's the matter Scooby?" Momsy Doo asked.

"Rit ras rorrible, ri raw rhosts and ronsters" Scooby replied whimpering.

"Relax dear it was just a nightmare" Momsy Doo remarked.

"Ri row, ri row" Scooby answered.

Meanwhile back at the gang's house the rest of Mystery Inc. were trying to somehow persuade Scooby to return to ghost chasing and mystery solving; the group's unofficial leader Fred had picked up the telephone and decided to call the Great Dane's parents trying to see what Scooby was up to.

"Hello Mrs. Doo? Is Scooby there?" the blond teen asked.

"Yes Freddie, Scooby's here" Mrs. Doo replied.

"Terrific, is there any way we can speak to him, we would like him to come back and solve mysteries again and chase ghosts with us again" Fred remarked.

"No I'm sorry Fred but I'm afraid Scooby's ghost chasing days are over" Mrs. Doo explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, well when you see him tell the gang we said hello, OK?" Fred replied.

"I'll do that Fred and thank you to you and the rest of the gang for being such good friends to Scooby" Mrs. Doo stated.

"No problem Mrs. Doo and goodbye" Fred said.

Both Fred and Mrs. Doo hung up their respective telephones as the blond teen was going over the events of the last few minutes in his mind, after doing this he proceeded to tell the rest of the group what Mr. and Mrs. Doo told him.

"Well gang, it's hard to believe but Scooby Doo's staying retired" Fred remarked, somewhat dejected after hearing the Great Dane's mother tell him about Scooby's decision.

"Yeah, I guess it was only a matter of time before Scooby hung up his magnifying glass and ate his last Scooby Snack" Daphne added.

"Although, this whole thing kind of puts everything in perspective doesn't it?" Velma remarked.

"Like how so Velma?" Shaggy asked.

"Well, the four of us and Scooby have been solving mysteries and chasing ghosts for the longest time; maybe after we capture the thirteen ghosts from the demon chest we can all take some time off from ghost chasing and mystery solving, after all even Sherlock Holmes took a break from detective work for a while during his career" the bespectacled sleuth replied.

"Velma, I think you might be right; maybe taking a break from detective work would be a good idea, plus it'll give me a good opportunity to continue with my mystery writing, or working in professional or college sports" Fred stated.

"Actually come to think of it we all could use some time off from sleuthing, plus I would love to get back into journalism; maybe even I could write for that teen magazine again or maybe I could get into television or radio journalism" Daphne remarked.

"Like I wouldn't mind getting into automobile racing or working as a customs inspector for a while, or maybe I could work as a chef somewhere, then after that I guess the world's my oyster" Shaggy noted.

"It would sure be hard to picture you as a race car driver or a customs inspector Shaggy but I do think you would be great at it, as for me I might consider going back to NASA for a while" Velma replied.

"Hey what about me guys?" Flim Flam asked.

"Don't worry Flim Flam, Vincent's mentioned before that he would be more than happy to have you live with him in his castle" Daphne explained.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that" Flim Flam replied.

"In the mean time what are we going to do about Scooby?" Fred wondered.

"Simple we'll just have to replace him" Flim Flam explained.

"Replace him? How in the world can we replace Scooby Doo?" Daphne asked.

"We'll just have to hold auditions and then see if there are any dogs that can stack up to him" the young boy stated.

"If any dogs even come close to Scooby" Velma replied.

"Believe me gang if anyone can find a replacement for Scooby Doo I can" Flim Flam explained.

So with that the remaining members of Mystery Inc. attempted the somewhat incredible and unbelievable task of attempting to replace one of the most friendly, coolest and downright bravest dogs in the history of crime solving.

The next day a call went out around the Coolsville area for a replacement for the Great Dane; during the auditions hundreds of dogs showed up to try out for Scooby's role, little dogs, big dogs; in fact all kinds of breeds of canines tried out to become the world's newest ghost chasing superstar.

For what seemed like several hours Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Flim Flam tested hundreds of dogs for the role, but none of them seemed perfect; even a large bulldog tried out but even he couldn't fill the role, that is until a lovable looking Saint Bernard opened the door to the gang's house around 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

"Uh excuse me, is this the Saint Bernard's Glee Club tryouts?" the canine asked.

"Sorry, it's not" Fred replied.

"Oh well, I guess I'll ask directions somewhere else" the dog replied as he prepared to leave the room.

"Wait!" Flim Flam called out.

"Yes?" the canine asked.

"Mind if I ask you what your name is?" Flim Flam said.

"No I don't mind, it's Bernie Gushier" the Saint Bernard replied.

"Well Bernie, how would you like to be a world famous ghost chaser?" Flim Flam asked.

"Well it would be nice to have a lifestyle change, okay why not" Bernie replied.

"Terrific, here's a contract that will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams" Flim Flam explained as he handed the canine a large sheet of paper and a pen.

"That sounds nice" Bernie replied as he signed the contract.

"Um, Flim Flam, I don't think this dog will work out as well as Scooby Doo" Fred remarked.

"Are you kidding? He's a natural born celebrity, he'll be great" Flim Flam replied.

"Okay if you say so," Fred commented.

So with that a new chapter in history was bout to be written: history post-Scooby Doo; meanwhile thousands of miles away in his hometown and his bedroom the aforementioned Great Dane was speaking with his parents about the nightmare that he had while he was taking a nap; the two canines tried desperately to calm their jittery son and finally they came up with a solution.

"Relax son, here watch some television to take your mind off things" Daddy Doo remarked.

Scooby's father then walked over to the small television on the other side of the room, took the small remote control from next to the monitor, handed it to Scooby and pushed the power button.

"If you need anything just let us know" Daddy Doo said.

"Yes, we'll be in the living room if you need to talk to us" Momsy Doo replied as she closed Scooby's bedroom door.

With that the Great Dane was alone, Scooby flipped around the various channels on the Dooville cable system looking for something to watch; he flipped past a couple game shows, ESPN, WTBS, a few network shows, USA Network and a few other shows before coming upon a news channel which was reporting on some breaking news.

"Hmm, I wonder what's going on? Probably something going on in some far off place; I always loved to travel, maybe now that I'm retired I can go on regular vacations instead of ones that turn into mysteries" Scooby thought.

Unfortunately for him, he would soon find out that the breaking news was about someone very close to him; the Great Dane then turned up the sound on the television and got the shock of his life.

"This afternoon the world famous Great Dane ghost chaser Scooby Doo announced his retirement; the worlds of television, radio, sports, politics and news were all quite shocked at this announcement, in addition the news reached the White House and President Reagan as a few moments ago the president released this statement" the news reporter said.

"Today we were all stunned to learn the news of the retirement of Scooby Doo; I am here to say that I was especially stunned and saddened to learn this, particularly my sons as they were great fans of him; Scooby Doo, myself, the government of the United States and every citizen of this country wants you to come back and if you do return to ghost chasing I personally will declare a national holiday for you; so please Scooby Doo come back" President Reagan said on the screen as patriotic music played before the TV station returned to regular programming.

As Scooby sat on his bed, he found himself openly crying as he wondered if he had made the right decision to retire from the field of ghost chasing; the Great Dane was clearly touched by what the president had said and found himself attempting to make the biggest decision of his life.

Meanwhile inside Mystery Inc.'s house, the gang and Bernie Gumshire were getting ready to restart their quest to capture Time Slime; however unbeknownst to the mystery solvers they wouldn't have to look for Time Slime, Time Slime would come to them.

Mystery Inc. were discussing their plan to capture the most recent of the 13 Ghosts from the Demon Chest when a plume of smoke suddenly appeared in the room; as the smoke dissipated two familiar yellow ghosts and one familiar villain stood before the gang.

"Time Slime!" the group exclaimed as they stood in terror while looking at the phantom.

"So, it appears that Scooby Doo has left the field of ghost chasing for good" Time Slime explained with an evil grin on his face.

"How d-did you know that?" Velma asked.

"I'm the master of time, I know many things; like for example, you probably know that I want the Chest of Demons and you mortals are going to give it to me, now!" Time Slime growled as he noticed that Fred was holding the box; however the gang decided to pull a little trick on Time Slime as Fred hid the box behind him, then a few seconds later Flim Flam and he moved in front of the chest to make sure he wouldn't spot the box.

"Alright, where is the Chest of Demons?" Time Slime asked.

"What's the Chest of Demons?" Fred wondered.

"Yeah, we've never heard of that before" Flim Flam added.

"Oh really? Isn't that the Chest behind you?" Time Slime asked.

"No I don't believe so" Fred replied.

"Enough of this! I want that chest now!" Time Slime growled.

"Not a chance watch face, we'll never give it to you!" Fred replied.

"Oh really? Well what are you going to do about it?" Time Slime commented.

"Simple, this! Flim Flam, Shaggy, now!" Fred declared as the blond teen, the cowardly teen and the group's young companion charged straight for Time Slime; unfortunately for the trio of youngsters, the villainous phantom was ready for this and grabbed Fred, Flim Flam and Shaggy by their respective shirt collars.

"Jeepers!" Daphne shrieked.

"Jinkies!" Velma added.

"Well, now that I'm finished playing games, it's time I took the Chest of Demons" Time Slime explained as he walked over to where Daphne and Velma were and easily took the chest from them.

"Now, I believe it's time I took you meddlers and the Chest back to my lair of time!" Time Slime remarked; suddenly a strange magical burst of smoke surrounded the room and within a few moments Mystery Inc., along with their new canine, Time Slime, Bogel and Weerd all found themselves inside an all too familiar room, thousands of miles away from Coolsville.

However when everyone had reappeared in Time Slime's lair, only the villains, mainly Time Slime, Bogel and Weerd were safe form any danger, unfortunately for Mystery Inc. however, they were locked up tight in the strange contraption they had seen when they first visited the lair of time.

One of Time Slime's Time Knights was in position right in front of the teenage sleuths and Flim Flam, and was about ready to strike them down in their primes so to speak; however thousands of miles away in a familiar looking castle, someone was about to possibly change the outcome of this situation, albeit temporarily.

"Good grief, that Time Knight is going to destroy Scooby's friends and it also looks like Time Slime is ready to open the Chest of Demons; I have to do something to delay this from happening, wait I know!" Vincent Van Ghoul remarked; thinking quickly the warlock walked a few steps and picked up Time Slime's Time Scepter, which had been lost by the villain previously; the sorcerer moved the hands of the device to Freeze Time and a few seconds later, right as Time Slime was opening the Chest as a matter of fact, time came to a standstill for everyone except Mystery Inc.

"Now that Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Flim Flam are safe, I think I'll pay a call on Scooby Doo to see if I can't get him to return to ghost chasing" Vincent said; within seconds the great warlock disappeared from his castle and reappeared thousands of miles away in Dooville, specifically in Scooby Doo's bedroom.

The powerful warlock stood in the neatly furnished room and walked over to the Great Dane; a few seconds later he waved his hands in front of Scooby, which caused the canine to see his warlock friend and greet him in a way that only Scooby Doo could.

"Rister Ran Rhoul!" the canine said happily as he began licking Vincent Van Ghoul's face.

"Alright Scooby, alright, it's nice to see you too" Vincent replied.

"Rhat are rou roing rhere rister Ran Rhoul?" the canine asked.

"Well Scooby, I decided since there's a chance you might not return to ghost chasing, I figured I would show you what the future would be like if you permanently retired; first, well I can't tell you, but like I said I can show you, is that okay with you?" the sorcerer asked.

"Rokay, ri'm ready" Scooby replied.

"Very well then, off we go!" Vincent said as he turned the hands of the Time Scepter to future; suddenly Scooby and Vincent found themselves traveling through a strange maze of purple clouds, which the Great Dane assumed was the pathway to the future.

In a few minutes time, the canine and the warlock were about to see just life would be like for the world without Scooby Doo around to catch ghosts; because for Scooby Doo, Vincent Van Ghoul was his own private guardian angel and was about to show the canine some of the most frightening things he had ever seen before in his life, in addition to some things that very few mortals or dogs for that matter had ever seen; whether he liked it or not Vincent Van Ghoul was determined to show Scooby Doo that he had a wonderful life with his friends, the five other members of Mystery Inc. and what would happen to the other members of the group in the future should the canine continue with his current lifestyle, mainly taking a permanent leave from ghost chasing and mystery solving.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"You see Scooby, after you quit the gang Time Slime opened the Chest of Demons and ten years later the whole world turned into this" Vincent said as he and Scooby arrived in what looked to be a barren wasteland after traveling through the strange mists of time.

Scooby looked around at the landscape around him and began whimpering; what Vincent had told him about Time Slime taking over the world was indeed true and Scooby Doo was seeing the terrifying results of his retirement from ghost chasing.

As he stood next to Vincent the Great Dane's keen sense of hear picked up the noise of what sounded like a motorcycle in the distance.

"Rister Ran Rhoul, rhat's rhat?" Scooby asked.

Vincent began to hear the same noise that Scooby was hearing and slowly exhaled.

"Scooby, I don't know how to tell you this, but I believe one of your ex-friends is about to pay us a visit" Vincent explained.

The Great Dane and the Warlock saw a medium sized motorcycle with what looked to be a young boy coming towards them rather fast.

The motorcycle suddenly stopped and the young boy put on the brakes; he looked over at the warlock and Great Dane and shook his head with disgust, meanwhile Scooby saw who was riding the motorcycle and as when he did he became quite shocked.

"Rim Rlam?" Scooby asked.

"Yes Scooby it's your former friend Flim Flam" Vincent replied.

"Rormer riend?" Scooby replied sounding quite puzzled.

"Yes you see when you left Mystery Inc. Flim Flam decided to join up with Time Slime and his cronies" Vincent explained.

"Rit ran't be" Scooby replied.

"Rim Ram ron't you remember me, rit's me: Scooby Doo" Scooby added.

"Scooby Doo? Yeah I used to know a Scooby Doo, he used to be a really cool friend for a dog but he chickened out and retired, now my best friend is Time Slime" Flim Flam explained.

"Rime Rlime?" Scooby asked.

"Yeah, at least Time Slime won't retire like my old friend did" Flim Flam replied.

Scooby walked away from the former member of Mystery Inc. and his motorcycle and began to cry a little; Vincent walked over to him and the two of them walked out of the line of sight of Flim Flam.

"Scooby what's the matter?" Vincent asked.

"Ri ran't relieve rhat Rim Ram rould roin rup rith Rime Rlime" Scooby replied.

"Believe it or not Scooby he did, now we have much to see and little time to see it, so I do believe it's time to continue our journey" Vincent remarked.

Vincent turned the dial of the Time Scepter and the pair now found themselves in what looked to be a throne room; as he looked around the room, out of the corner of his eye Scooby saw something that made him shiver with fright, even more then he usually would.

An older woman wearing what looked to be a long pink robe was cleaning the floors; she had long flowing red hair and a face that looked like it had been quite beautiful at one time, now however it had been ravaged by wrinkles and the passage of time.

Scooby Doo instantly recognized the woman by her red hair, he remembered that when she was younger she loved wearing a purple hair band to keep it straight; while she looked much older now the Great Dane was very pleased that he had found one of his friends in this frightful new world.

"Raphne?" Scooby wondered with a curious look on his face.

"Yes Scooby, it's your old friend Daphne; she now works as a chamber maid for Time Slime" Vincent replied.

"Ro rit can't be, ran it?" Scooby asked, not believing that this was really who Vincent said it was.

Scooby then decided to walk over to the older woman and attempted to some how get her attention.

"Raphne, rit's re Scooby" the Great Dane said.

"Scooby, no it can't be" the woman replied trying to make sense of what the canine had said.

The woman then placed a pair of nearby eyeglasses on her face and saw the surprise of her life.

"It is you, oh Scooby!" the older Daphne said hugging the Great Dane.

"Rit's reat ro ree rou Raphne!" Scooby exclaimed.

"It's wonderful to see you too Scooby, and now that you're here you can help serve Time Slime along with me" the older Daphne replied with a strange almost evil smirk.

"Rime Rlime?" Scooby asked.

"Yes, Time Slime" the older Daphne said in almost monotone sounding voice.

Scooby then slowly walked backwards and joined his mystic friend, making sure that he was out of sight of Daphne.

"Rister Ran Rhoul, rhat rappened ro Raphne?" Scooby asked wiping a tear from his eye.

"After you left and Time Slime took over, he found out about your friends and Daphne and decided to make her his slave" Vincent replied.

"Roh no!" Scooby said with an upset and saddened look on his face.

"It's alright Scooby, here you go" Vincent said handing him a handkerchief.

"Rank rou rister Ran Rhoul" Scooby replied with a sniffle.

"It was my pleasure, now we must visit the rest of the gang" Vincent remarked.

Vincent moved the hands of the Time Scepter again as he and Scooby disappeared from the room where the older Daphne was cleaning and reappeared in another room.

The Great Dane and the warlock could see that the room was filled with numerous books; shelves and shelves of them stacked high to the ceiling, in one corner of the room stood an older woman with short chestnut brown hair, she was wearing a pair of black horn-rimmed glasses and an old ragged orange sweatshirt; Scooby caught sight of the woman and smiled.

"Relma!" Scooby declared.

"Yes Scooby it's your old friend Velma, she is now Time Slime's personal librarian" Vincent replied.

"Rhat's ra rood rob ror rher" Scooby responded.

"Well yes except for one thing; since Time Slime took over he has made sure that no human on Earth would posses or read any book or piece of literature" Vincent replied.

"Rhy rould re ro rhat?" Scooby asked curiously.

"Because Time Slime knew that if mortals had the right information at their disposal they would try and mount a resistance against him, so he took it all" Vincent replied.

"Rhat's rerrible" Scooby responded.

The older woman who had been standing in the corner reading a book put it down and looked around the room because she thought she heard a familiar sound; she looked over at the doorway of the room and saw Scooby Doo and Vincent Van Ghoul standing there.

"Scooby?" the older Velma asked with a whisper.

"Relma!" Scooby exclaimed.

The Great Dane ran towards the bespectacled older woman and leapt into her arms licking her face.

"Take it easy Scooby I'm happy to see you again as well" the older Velma said with a whisper.

"Roy am I rlad ro see you" Scooby replied.

"Likewise" the older Velma responded.

While both the Great Dane and the woman were clearly delighted to see each other again Scooby had noticed that Velma had a solemn look on her face.

"Rhat's the ratter Relma?" Scooby asked.

"Oh it's just that I thought you would never come back Scooby, I really thought you were gone or even worse: that Time Slime got you and possibly destroyed you" the older Velma replied.

"Rits OK Relma, ri'm rere" Scooby said in a comforting manner as he walked over to the older version of the bespectacled sleuth and hugged her.

"I know Scooby, I know; you've been gone for so long a lot of things have changed, for instance all these books you see before you are all banned; when Time Slime took over he went all over the world looking for books to claim as his own and then brought them back here, after he found out about me, Fred, Daphne, Flim Flam and Shaggy, he gave each of us a choice: join him or be destroyed" the older Velma replied.

"Roh no!" Scooby yelped.

"Thankfully not all of us were captured by Time Slime; Fred and Shaggy were able to get away, I don't know where they are now, unfortunately Daphne, myself and Flim Flam were all captured before we were able to escape; Time Slime made Daphne his chamber maid and gave her the task of keeping his lair clean and tidy, Flim Flam decided to join up with him on his own free will, meanwhile I was given the same choice however he decided that since I looked intelligent he made me his personal librarian" the older Velma continued to explain.

"Rhat's rood" Scooby remarked.

"Good, that's a laugh; being his quote librarian meant that I had to make sure no one saw or took any of the books here, it's too bad really; all these great works of literature just going to waste rotting on these shelves, you know Scooby sometimes I take a book from the shelves and read just to keep myself from going crazy in here" the older Velma said trying to put aside her anger against Time Slime while talking to the Great Dane.

"Ri'm rorry Relma" Scooby said as a tear once again rolled down his face.

Velma walked over to Scooby and gave him a tissue to wipe the tear from his face.

"Here Scooby, I hate to see you like this" the older Velma commented.

"Ranks Relma, rou're a rood riend" Scooby replied.

"I just wish there was someway that all of this could have been avoided and that the Earth was what it once was: green forests and trees, blue oceans and cities and countries full of people" the older Velma mused.

Unseen to the older Velma, Scooby had walked out of sight and joined Vincent Van Ghoul once again.

"Raybe rhere ris a ray Relma, raybe rhere ris" Scooby thought as he rejoined his warlock friend.

"So Scooby are you enjoying your visit to the future so far?" Vincent asked.

"Rou've rot to re ridding!" Scooby answered.

"I'm sorry Scooby but as I've mentioned before I am trying to show you that you meant a lot to the gang and they truly miss you" Vincent replied.

"Ri know, ri know" Scooby commented.

"Come Scooby we must visit another of your former friends" Vincent said.

Once again Vincent turned the hands of Time Slime's time scepter and the pair disappeared; the Great Dane and the warlock reappeared in a desolate and barren looking area, as far as the eye could see there was nothing; no trees, plants, animals or buildings, just twisted scraps of metal and paper as well as mountains of what looked to be orange dirt and hundreds of abandoned automobiles.

In the center of it all sat a large red chair similar to those that would be found in a fancy dining hall, if there were still such things as dining rooms in this dreadful world, which was quite doubtful.

Vincent and Scooby walked over to the chair and stood quietly behind it for a second; the powerful warlock Vincent Van Ghoul then spoke to his canine companion.

"Scooby, in the chair you see before you sits Shaggy Rogers your long time best friend" Vincent remarked.

"Rhaggy?" Scooby questioned.

"Yes Scooby, you see ever since Time Slime took over Shaggy hasn't done much of anything; for a few years he went crazy trying to figure out what to do with his life, now all he does is sits in that easy chair waiting and hoping" Vincent replied.

"Raiting rand roping ror rhat?" Scooby asked.

"For you to come back Scooby, he's been waiting and hoping that you would return and would help the gang get Daphne, Velma and Flim Flam back on the right side and stop Time Slime for good" Vincent responded.

"Ri rant to ree Raggy" Scooby stated.

"Are you quite certain you want to see him?" Vincent asked.

"Ri'm rositive" Scooby said.

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you" Vincent replied.

Vincent accompanied the Great Dane as the two of them walked from behind the chair to in front of it; both of them saw an older man with light sandy brown hair, a light brown half goatee half beard wearing a ragged and torn red t shirt with ragged blue jeans and brown shoes.

While both of them noticed that the man was not moving from the chair; the Great Dane recognized the man at once and was shocked at the appearance of what was once his best friend in the entire world, now however he was a shell of his former self.

"Raggy, rit's re Scooby Doo!" the Great Dane remarked.

"Huh, what; who's there?" the older man asked as he got up from his chair and looked around.

"Raggy, rit's rour rest reind Scooby!" the Dane replied.

"I used to know a Scooby, haven't seen him in years though" the older Shaggy commented sadly as he looked at the Great Dane.

"Raggy, snap out of it!" Scooby remarked.

"Hmm… say, haven't I seen you some place before" the older Shaggy wondered.

"Res, rit's re Scooby!" Scooby replied trying to reason with his best friend.

"Huh, you know you have the same name as my old dog; his name was Scooby" the older Shaggy commented.

"Ri don't ret it" Scooby remarked.

"Scooby, Shaggy's confused, frightened and a little scared; living in this barren world without you as a friend for so long has changed his personality from how you used to know him to what he is now" Vincent explained.

"Risn't there ranything rhat ri can do ror him?" Scooby asked.

"No Scooby, unfortunetely there isn't really that much we can do for him now; who knows how long he'll be like this, quite possibly he might stay this way for the rest of his days" Vincent remarked.

"Raybe rif I rave him a rittle reminder of rhat rhings rused to re" Scooby replied.

"I suppose that would be alright" Vincent commented, albeit a little apprehensively.

Scooby walked over to the older Shaggy, reached up and licked his face; while he didn't know at first what was going on Shaggy knew that this was a friendly dog and was glad that he made his acquaintance.

The older Shaggy got up from his chair, walked over to Scooby and softly petted him; afterwards he scratched the Great Dane's ear, while Scooby knew that he wouldn't be able to convince Shaggy of who he was one thing was for sure: the Great Dane enjoyed being petted and having his ears scratched.

"What a friendly dog, I just wish I had a pet like you to keep me company; I wonder who you belong to, although I wonder if your master is still around and hasn't been affected by this dismal landscape" the older Shaggy said with a smile as he continued to softly pet the Great Dane.

"Well it's very nice to meet you and I hope you find your owner" the older Shaggy remarked.

Scooby smiled as he and Vincent Van Ghoul walked out of sight towards the bleak horizon.

"Keep hanging in there Raggy, rand ri know ri'll rind ry raster" Scooby thought with a smile.

"Well Scooby I think it's time to visit your final former friend" Vincent commented.

"Rokay Rister Ran Rhoul, rif rou ray ro" Scooby replied

For what he hoped to be the final time Vincent Van Ghoul turned the hands of the time scepter as he and Scooby disappeared once more.

This time Scooby and Vincent reappeared in what looked to be an ancient temple; the Great Dane appeared to force a smile as he noticed where he and his mystic friend had been transported to.

"Rister Ran Rhoul, rit's rour rastle!" Scooby exclaimed.

"Yes it is Scooby, and there's someone who wants to see you; in fact he's been waiting a long time to do so" Vincent replied.

Scooby looked around the room and saw an older blond haired man wearing a long dark blue cloak and an orange ascot sitting at a large wooden desk, the man looked quite busy as he was reading through some papers, in addition there were a couple of books on the desk as well.

The Great Dane moved closer and decided to see if this was indeed one of his former friends as Vincent had mentioned.

"Reddie?" Scooby asked.

"Yes my name is Fred, although no one's called me Freddie in years" the man responded with a questioning tone in his voice.

"Reddie rit's re Scooby!" the Great Dane replied.

"Scooby? It can't be, but it is; I just can't believe it, it's really you!" the man responded happily as he turned his chair around to face the canine.

"Well Scooby I guess I don't have to tell you that this is indeed Fred, one of your old friends" Vincent explained.

"Hello Mr. Van Ghoul, I guess I didn't see you there" the older Fred commented with a smile.

"Hello Fred" Vincent responded.

"Fred, rhat rappened ro rou?" Scooby asked curiously.

"I would be more than happy to explain what happened to Scooby, Vincent; that is if you would like me to" Fred responded.

"Actually Fred I think it would be best if I explained things to Scooby" Vincent remarked.

"Very well Vincent" Fred replied.

"You see Scooby; while Flim Flam is now riding a motorcycle and is in league with Time Slime, Daphne and Velma are Time Slime's slaves, and Shaggy is what he is, after you left the gang and Time Slime took over I had to change my original plan; at first I was going to train Flim Flam in the mystic arts and sorcery, however after he joined up with Time Slime I needed someone to be my apprentice and eventually succeed me if I passed away or became too frail to continue my work; and so I decided to choose Fred" Vincent explained.

"But why?" Scooby asked.

"Because I knew that even if you didn't return to ghost chasing, I needed a backup plan to fight Time Slime and make sure that someday he would be defeated; and that the world would be returned to what it once was" Vincent responded.

"Rut rhat rill roesn't ranswer rhy ruestion, rhy rid rou pick Fred?" Scooby asked.

"It's actually all very simple Scooby; since I first met all of you I've noticed that Fred seems to be the strongest member of the group besides you of course" Vincent explained.

"Rokay, ri think I'm beginning to understand" Scooby replied.

"Over the years I've also been you watching your old adventures on television and from that, it seemed to me that he would be the member of Mystery Inc. that would make the perfect apprentice; someone to as I mentioned previously, take my place either after I'm gone or if I needed to go into hiding for any reason" Vincent continued.

"Ah, ri ret it" Scooby replied.

"That's good to hear" Vincent replied.

"Rincent?" Scooby asked.

"Yes Scooby" Mr. Van Ghoul responded.

"Ris rit rokay rif ri rask Fred a question" Scooby replied.

"Certainly Scooby" he responded.

"Reddie, rhat's rit rike reing a ralock?" Scooby asked.

"You know at first I didn't really like it and didn't understand all the magic spells, incantations and things of that nature, but once you get used to it it's actually pretty cool Scooby; I mean having magical powers, being able to cast spells and having the ability to transport myself anywhere at any time; believe me, it's amazing" the older Fred responded.

"Wow, ri rish ri rould re a warlock" Scooby replied.

"If you were a Warlock, I know you would be a great one and a great assistant to me" the older Fred explained with a smile.

"Ri rish ri rould ray rith rou rere" Scooby replied.

"I wish you could too Scooby but you can't" the older Fred remarked.

"Rhy rot?" Scooby asked.

"Because Scooby, you have to go back to the gang and help them defeat Time Slime and the rest of the thirteen ghosts and any other ghosts or monsters that rear their ugly heads around the world" Vincent explained.

"Roh reah, ri rorgot rabout rhat" Scooby replied.

"Scooby I know how much you want to stay with me here but Vincent's right, you have to go back to your friends and help them catch ghosts; tell you what Scoob just in case something happens I'll use my magic to try and capture all the spirits that are running free around the world OK?" Fred remarked.

"Rokay Reddie" Scooby replied.

Suddenly the three of them heard a loud banging sound; on instinct the older Fred ran over to the window and saw that the older Daphne, Velma, Flim Flam and Time Slime as well as Bogel and Weerd were trying to break down the door.

"Ripes!" Scooby yelped.

"I was both afraid of and expecting this" the older Fred remarked.

"Rhat?" Scooby asked.

"Time Slime and his cronies are trying to enter the temple; I'll try and hold them off, meanwhile Scooby you and Mr. Van Ghoul try and make your escape" the older Fred commented.

Fred raised his arms and began to cast an incantation to try and keep the evil intruders at bay; suddenly Vincent and Scooby could see an invisible barrier beginning to appear behind the large temple doors.

"Reddie rhat's roing to rappen to rou?" Scooby asked,

"Hopefully if you decide to return to ghost chasing Scooby, this horrible future will never happen" Fred replied.

"Ri rope ro" Scooby remarked.

"Only you can make that choice Scooby, and I hope you make the right one" Fred remarked.

"Ri rill Reddie, ri rill" Scooby replied.

Knowing that he and Scooby didn't have much time until Time Slime broke into the temple Vincent turned the hands of the time scepter once again and the pair disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After disappearing from Vincent Van Ghoul's temple ten years in the future, Scooby and Vincent reappeared in limbo where the pair had been when the warlock picked up his cowardly companion.

"Now do you understand Scooby, you meant so much to the gang; if you were ever to retire or quit something horrible would happen, ghosts and ghouls would wreak havoc throughout the world and destruction would loom all over the planet" Vincent explained.

"Ri runderstand Rister Ran Rhoul rand ri've recided romething Mr. Van Ghoul" Scooby commented.

"What's that Scooby?" Vincent asked.

"Ri still rant to rejoin the gang, ri've rad rots of fun with Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Flim Flam; ran ri rould rever trade that for anything rin the world" Scooby responded.

"Really, you mean you still want to rejoin the gang even though you're still frightened of all the ghosts and monsters that you and the rest of Mystery Inc. have faced?" Vincent asked.

"Res, ri'll robably re rafraid of rhosts, rhowever ri'm rust roing to rave to face my fears" Scooby replied.

"Good for you Scooby, I'm very happy that you're rejoining the gang" Vincent responded.

"Ran you rut me back rin rime to save the gang?" Scooby asked.

"I think so Scooby, what I can do is put you back in Time Slime's lair just before he tries to destroy your friends, ok" Vincent replied.

"Rokay, ret's do it" Scooby responded.

Suddenly a strange mist began to envelop Scooby and Vincent; after a few moments it began to clear up as Scooby and Vincent found themselves back in Time Slime's lair and back in the present.

However things still looked bleak for Mystery Inc. as Time Slime's Killer Clock prepared to do Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Flim Flam and Scooby's temporary replacement in.

"Like we're in trouble now gang" Shaggy remarked.

"Yeah, only a miracle could save us now" Fred responded.

"Nothing can save you meddling kids" Time Slime responded as he laughed evilly.

"Roh, ri rouldn't ray rhat" a voice said.

Suddenly the gang looked around the room trying to figure out where the voice was coming from; the gang looked and saw none other than Scooby Doo walking towards them.

"Scooby, are we ever glad to see you!" Velma happily exclaimed.

"I'm happy to see you as well Scooby-Doo, so that I can destroy you in person!" Time Slime commented laughing evilly.

Time Slime commanded one of the Time Knights in his lair to destroy Scooby, Velma looked up and saw the knight heading directly for Scooby.

"Scooby, look out!" Velma shrieked.

Scooby saw the Knight swinging his axe trying to hit Scooby, but unfortunately for Time Slime the Knight's aim wasn't particularly good; the Knight swung his axe wildly as he quickly approached Time Slime, Bogel and Weerd.

"No, you fool; I am your master don't attack me!" Time Slime yelled.

While all of this was going on Scooby took the opportunity to use one of his claws to pick the lock on the Killer Clock, allowing the rest of Mystery Inc. to barely escape their fate; for as soon as the gang escaped the Killer Clock, the Knight had swung his axe destroying the contraption.

"Hurry gang, grab the Chest of Demons so we can trap Time Slime" Fred commented.

Scooby quickly ran over and grabbed the Chest as the strange knight continued to advance on the villain; Time Slime slowly walked backwards down a series of stairs but unfortunately for him he failed to see the Chest of Demons at the bottom of the steps and fell off them and into the chest, which Scooby Doo closed after Time Slime was captured.

"Well I guess that takes care of old Time Slime" Velma remarked.

"Right and I guess he'll have plenty of time before he thinks about tangling with us again" Fred added.

"Oh brother" the gang groaned in unison at the blond teenager's comment.

With their ghastly foe defeated, Scooby Doo and company headed back for the Mystery Machine and out of town, inside the van the Great Dane's companions were congratulating him on returning and wondered what other unusual adventures were in store for them.

Meanwhile Flim Flam was still trying to figure out someway to keep Bernie Gumshire around, or rather another way to make him a celebrity.

"Well Bernie, now that Scooby's back I guess we won't be needing your services any longer; but that doesn't mean you can't stick around with us" Flim Flam explained.

"Actually I think this line of work is too dangerous for me, I would much rather go back to being a singer" Bernie replied.

"Well if you happen to need an agent, I'm your man" Flim Flam replied; with that the youngster began attempting to tell the canine that he needed an agent, and of course he was telling him that Flim Flam wanted to be that agent, but Bernie Gumshire would hear nothing of it as he wanted to make up his own mind.

Later on that day, Scooby and the gang had piled back into the Mystery Machine and were heading through the snowy mountain roads that led out of the small village of Cuckoosburg; while the blond unofficial leader of the group guided the vehicle through the mountains, he was quite happy that the gang's Great Dane had decided to rejoin them and he decided to let the canine know of his happiness.

"Boy Scooby we really thought we lost you forever" Fred remarked.

"Yeah, we thought you were retired for good" Daphne added.

"But like I'm sure glad you didn't retire old pal and I'm sure glad you decided to come back Scooby" Shaggy commented.

"Yeah, just imagine what would have happened if you hadn't come back and Time Slime took control of the world" Velma responded.

"Reah rust rimagine" Scooby commented with a wink.

Thousands of miles away, but unbeknownst to Mystery Inc. except for Scooby of course who was holding the Crystal Ball and saw him do it, Vincent Van Ghoul winked back at the canine, who was quite happy as well that Scooby Doo had decided to return to mystery solving and ghost chasing, However, each member of Mystery Inc. realized that even though they had dodged a bullet and that Scooby didn't leave the gang, they knew that someday all of Mystery Inc. would have to retire from mystery solving. But as they traveled onward in the their journeys to track down the ghosts from the Demon Chest Mystery Inc. knew that maybe, just maybe the members of the group would settle down and get married, in addition maybe, just maybe each member of the group would have kids of their own and that they would form a new generation of Mystery Inc,, because after all crime and criminals don't take vacations or holidays and neither would Mystery Inc., whatever time it may be; each member of the group knew deep within them that this was true, besides as far as Scooby Doo and company were concerned, they had all the time in the world.

Author's Notes: Sorry if this chapter seems shorter then the other two; I'm curious as to what everyone thinks of how I wrote the gang's futures. Considering Shaggy, Daphne and Flim Flam were in the original episode I had no problem writing their futures, with a few small alterations; as for Fred and Velma, they obviously were not in the original series so I had to be creative with their futures, but I think I did a good job with them and I think I came up with good twists for the two characters futures as well. By the way, please read and review my stories, I love getting feedback, be it negative or positive, it doesn't matter to me; also from what I've seen I guess my writing skills are getting better, just so everyone knows I intend to keep writing Scooby Fan Fiction and I have a few other ideas cooked up as well, but I won't say anything, at least not yet.


End file.
